CBD Crime Spree: retailers rocked by spate of break-ins

UP to 12 city businesses have been left
counting the cost of lost cash and damaged offices this week following a spate
of break and enters in Queanbeyan over the weekend.

The break-ins occurred across Friday and
Saturday night, with a number of Crawford and Monaro street businesses
targeted, including several retailers inside Lawrence House.

Curves Fitness owner Lara Zelenka told The
Queanbeyan Age her business was broken into on Friday night or early Saturday
morning, with the offender/s stealing a small amount of cash from inside a
locked filing cabinet. But greater than the amount of cash stolen was the
damage caused to her business, she said.

"There's been a lot of damage, with
jimmy bars by the look of it. They snapped the front door locks completely, and
completely peeled the front off my filing cabinet, which was locked."

She said the break-in had left her staff
feeling vulnerable and shaken, as well as interrupting trade on Monday and
Tuesday.

"They did just enough (damage) to be a
pain in the bum really. There will be some angry owners around town this week,
I can tell you."

Spackman Real Estate property manager
Chantelle Kreti also had a crime scene to deal with when she came in to her
workplace on Sunday morning. She told The Age that a small amount of cash had
been taken by the offender/s, who also hit a number of neighbouring businesses
on the lower level of Lawrence House.

Queanbeyan Inspector Neil Grey said that
was consistent with many of the break-ins, with the offender/s targeting
businesses that shared an access point.

Detectives are currently investigating the
crimes and are interested in speaking to a male suspect described as Caucasian,
aged in his thirties, unshaven, wearing a light coloured hoodie who was seen
riding a bicycle in the area.

Insp. Grey said police weren't ruling out
the possibility of multiple offenders.

"Obviously we're focussing our
attention on the one person that has been described to us, but we're certainly
not ruling out that others are involved," he said

And he encouraged local business owners to
bolster their security measures and not leave cash on premises in the wake of
the break-ins.

"People just need to ensure that their
premises are locked up and that windows and doors are secured. Secondly that
they don't keep cash on premises and thirdly, if an alarm goes off, to treat it
seriously," Insp. Grey said.